Finding a trustworthy dentist/orthodontist

kimftw

Hey everyone,

When I was younger I chipped two front teeth: my bottom middle and one next to my top two front teeth. I had my NHS dentist fill the chips and the bottom filling has lasted 9 years fortunately. My top one however came out a year ago.

I had my new dentist (same practice) fill it in, but in doing so, he shaved away some of the enamel elsewhere on the tooth. A year on and it has discoloured horribly, the filling isn't right and I daren’t smile without being self-conscious. I am so unimpressed, he has made a front tooth worse and I'm only 20.

In addition, I needed braces during my teens due to overcrowding but the NHS changed their band systems, meaning I only just missed free braces. Now I'm a student with a well-paid job and I can treat myself to the smile I want!

I have very little faith in my current NHS dentist though, and the private orthodontist there is not someone I would feel comfortable having treatment with (he gave me my consultation when I was 16, bad experience). So now, I’m looking for somewhere that could just reform my smile, fixing my horribly discoloured tooth and setting me up with some braces.

How do I go about finding a decent dentist with decent prices? Do I get all my treatment at a private practice? Or do I have dentistry done at an NHS place and orthodontics elsewhere?

I have a consultation at a cosmetic dentist in Leeds next week, I’m not sure how they work or anything, kind of nervous. I had a consultation at a NHS practice in Halifax and the private dentist told me I would need 4 teeth extracting and traditional braces totalling to £4k – I know he overpriced the treatment as he admitted himself I wouldn’t need much work done, but he would give me the best deal… so now I have no idea what to do.

Toothsmith

How did you pick the dentist you're going to see?

Recommendations from friends/family, or just picked at random from google & website?

Look at the tips in my signature lines.

kimftw

I actually followed your signature before I found this dentist :')

After a lot of internet searching, he's one of the few dentists in my area that provides Six Month Smiles treatment.

I visited the dentist when I booked my consultation, it seems decent enough but I'm not exactly experienced in assessing how good these places are. Thanks for you reply.

brook2jack

Six month smiles may not be the right system for you, you should not pick a dentist on the basis of one treatment.

You need to see an orthodontist ,not a general dentist who only offers one or two systems, they specialise in braces and will offer multiple systems. They can advice about the positives and negatives of each and advise which is the best for you and time frames.

To find a good orthodontist ring around a few dental practices and find out who they refer to .

To find a good general dentist follow tooth smiths advise.

kimftw

Thanks for your reply. I know, I decided to have a consultation just to see if I would be eligible for a six month smiles treatment, this dentist offers a range of orthodontic treatment too, I was hoping they could advise me on them all.

Do you think I should ask around NHS practices or private ones? Or does that not really matter?

brook2jack

Orthodontists normally treat both nhs patients (under 18 ) and private patients (over 18) . So any practice will be able to give a recommendation who they refer to even if it is a practice which does mostly nhs treatment.